Inside Coachella 2022 as a celebrity - Free NFTs, £20k fees and lavish hotels (2024)

From major cash incentives and impressive goody bags, to free NFTs and private jets in and out of the festival, we take a look at how the rich and the famous enjoy the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

It's the festival that makes Glastonbury look like a school fete when it comes to celebrity spotting.

The 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival kicked off on Friday, and famous faces have been descending to the the Empire Polo Club in Indio for two consecutive weekends of music and headline performances from the likes of Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and The Weeknd.

While the uber rich may wander around with regular ticket holders at the festival, celebrity Coachella attendees have a very different experience to everyone else during their time at the annual star-studded event.

$30,000 swag bags

Coachella is as much about the side parties as it is the actual festival.

As some of the world's biggest performers take to the stage nearby, venues across Indio, California host pre and post parties - with major cash incentives to get celebrities to pop in and show their face.

In 2019 - the last time Coachella took place prior to this weekend - Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted at the Poppy x Google Midnight Bloom after party around 2:30 a.m, while celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe held her fifth annual Coachella bash, imaginatively titled 'ZOEasis'

It was reported at the time that one of the many parties taking place in 2019 even sent out a press release about their $30,000 goody bags, in order to get celebs through their doors.

"Luxury Experience & Co will present an interactive gifting lounge celebrating all things festival vibe on April 12th at the elite and sought-after 2009 West Elm House, just featured in Modernism Week," the infamous invite began, before getting to the information everyone wanted to know - how much free stuff was up for grabs!

"With the desert being a destination for music fans from across the globe, the lounge will offer an elevated destination for top talent coming out for the festivities, and guests will be walking away with gift bags totaling more than $30k," the brand promised in their release.

Easy money if you can get it!

Lavish hotels

Celebrities do not do camping.

The rich and the famous may style their designer outfits to embrace the festival's laid-back, bohemian aesthetic, but when the sun goes down, they retreat to their luxury temporary residences nearby.

Most Coachella celebrities opt for a private rental in Palm Springs - around a 45 minute drive from Coachella's site - and hire a chauffeur to ferry them to the action each day.

The famous faces that do slum it in a public hotel tend to opt for high-end establishments like the Madison Club - a gated golf-course community located across the road from the Polo Fields, home to the Coachella festival.

Luxury private villa Zenyara is another popular celebrity hotspot - boasting that they offer "the ultimate Coachella, Ca getaway and offers a supremely upscale vacation experience."

Gigi and Bella Hadid enjoyed at stay at the desert oasis during the Coachella 2018 festival - sharing multiple envy-inducing snaps to their social media accounts.

It was estimated that the private villa - with its very own man made beach - set the famous siblings back a whopping $350,000 per weekend.

Appearance fee

There is no better freebie than cold, hard cash sometimes.

Over the years, it's been rumoured that the many famous faces wandering around the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California didn't just get a free ticket - they were paid to attend!

According to New York Daily News, back in 2014 Glee star Lea Michele was reportedly paid $20,000 by Lacoste to attend the music and arts festival in their clothing, while Coachella regular Vanessa Hudgens nabbed a $15,000 deal with McDonalds to somehow promote the fast-food giant at the event.

At the peak of his Breaking Bad fame, Aaron Paul was apparently looking for $15,000 and VIP tickets in order to grace Coachella with his presence, and Joe Jonas was happy to settle for an appearance fee of around $20,000.

Not rich and famous? The cheapest general admission passes start at $549 for a chance to bump into a celebrity by the iconic Ferris wheel.

Free NFTs

Celebrities have been trying to flog and promote NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) for months now, so it's no surprise the ultimate star-studded event has jumped on the bandwagon.

All attendees at Coachella this year, regardless of their celebrity status, will be given the option to download the In Bloom NFT, a massive psychedelic flower seed that blossoms every Friday morning of the festival.

But of course, there is something a little extra something planned for VIP guests.

Some of the Coachella NFTs will blossom into six diverse rare flowers, according to Marca, and lucky users will be able to cash them in for freebies like 2023 festival tickets and Ferris wheel rides.

With many regular Coachella patrons being multi-millionaires, like Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber, we're not sure how appreciative they'll be of a free go on a fairground round!

Private jets

Double booked for Coachella? Not a problem if you're a multi-millionaire celebrity!

Back in 2016, Taylor Swift jetted in and out of the Coachella Music Festival to attend a friend's wedding 1,200 miles away in Texas.

The Shake It Off hitmaker flew out of California to attend the wedding of her backup singer Eliotte Nicole in San Antonio, but was back in town in time to catch a closing act later the same evening.

The singer-songwriter, 32, isn't the only famous face to take advantage of access to private planes over the years.

Beyonce - who famously headlined the festival in 2018 - touched down at Coachella in 2014 in a fancy private plane chartered with her husband Jay Z.

Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@mirror.co.uk or call us direct at 0207 29 33033